Decision on whether to extend to come Tuesday

By John FryarLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
05/16/2013 09:30:44 PM MDT

Updated:
05/16/2013 09:36:16 PM MDT

Gabriel Perry questions why the Boulder County Commissioners wouldn t extend the fracking moratorium until more studies were available on safety and impact during public comments at the Boulder County Commissioners meeting in Boulder on Thursday. For additional coverage see A6.
(Mark Leffingwell/For the Times-Call)

BOULDER -- On Tuesday, Boulder County commissioners are to revisit the issue of whether they'll once again extend their current temporary moratorium on processing new applications for drilling for oil and gas in unincorporated parts of the county.

Meanwhile, commissioners on Thursday night gave dozens of people the opportunity to try to make their case, during a 2 1/2 hour-long public hearing, about why the county should continue to hold off on considering such applications, particularly for wells that will use the process of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" -- the injection of mixtures of sand, water and chemicals to free up underground oil and gas deposits.

The current moratorium, which started in February 2012 and has already been extended twice, is set to expire June 10.

More time is needed, several people told commissioners at Thursday night's hearing,

"A moratorium is essential until more is known about health, community and environmental impacts," said Ken Bonetti of Boulder, who said he was a member of the Indian Peaks chapter of the Sierra Club.

Lauren Swain, a representative of the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Sierra Club, said a two- or three-year extension could give the time that's necessary to study the impacts that fracking has on air and water quality.

"We have a wonderful opportunity here to stand up against these hazards," said Swain, urging the county commissioners to "give Boulder County a fracking break, please."

Kaye Fissinger of Our Health, Our Future, Our Longmont, said that as a result of that group's sponsorship of last year's voter-approved city charter amendment, "for now, and hopefully forever, Longmont is frack-free."

Fissinger urged the commissioners to keep Boulder County's moratorium in place "until such time that studies reveal that fracking is safe."

Tuesday's meeting -- set for 11 a.m. in the commissioners' main third-floor meeting room in the Boulder County Courthouse, 1325 Pearl St., Boulder, will not include a further public hearing, Board of County Commissioners chairwoman Cindy Domenico said Thursday.